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Derrick Favors was on the court Thursday night, working through his normal warmup routine.
He stretched out, shot jumpers over over the arms of an assistant coach and hit floaters in the lane.
But when he took an entry pass and tried to post up, the Utah Jazz forward looked to still be in discomfort. And, sure enough, when it came time to make a decision, Favors was held out against the Portland Trail Blazers, marking the fourth straight game he's missed due to back spasms.
"Backs are just hard. It's a hard thing to gauge," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "You can make progress and be close and still have it bother you."
The Jazz have been hit hard by injuries and of all their major pieces, Favors seems to be closest to a return — although no concrete timetable is in place.
"I don't know what point he is on the scale, but you want it to be better and you want him to play and, at the same time, you want to make sure he's not injuring himself more," Snyder said.
Utah will gladly welcome back his 16.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game whenever he's ready. And it does seem like he's inching closer to a return. On Thursday, Favors was a game-time decision, which would seem to be an improvement.
"He's been ruled out prior to the games, if it can be called [progress]," Snyder said. "I don't think it's really progress until he plays, so its just a question of figuring that out."
Tiger pride
Jazz forward Trevor Booker added a little something extra to his pre-game routine on Thursday: Watching the Clemson Tigers beat the Oklahoma Sooners to advance to college football's championship game.
Booker, a South Carolina native who played at Clemson from 2006-10, wore his letterman jacket, purple-and-orange pants and tiger-striped Nikes tonight.
"I got a smile on my face right now," he said before tipoff, after watching the Tigers' 37-17 Orange Bowl victory. "Hopefully it can help me on the court."
Asked if he had a preference between Clemson's possible title-game opponents, Alabama or Michigan State, Booker was supremely confident.
"It doesn't matter," he said with a smile. "Either one should be an easy win for us."
Big ouch
It looks like the Jazz won't get to see Al Jefferson's familiar face on the court this season. The former Jazz center on Thursday underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee, the Charlotte Hornets announced. Jefferson is expected to be out six weeks, which would mean he'd miss the Jazz's trip to Charlotte on Jan. 18 and the Hornets' visit to Salt Lake City on Jan. 27.
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